What Does a Bikini Parade Have to Do with Breast Cancer?
A tanning salon – a business that causes melanoma and other skin cancers – is promoting a walk of bikini-wearing women in summer sun to break an amusing world’s record. This parade will …
This Week’s Triple, Tough Dose of Real Stories on Women with Cancer
This news reminds us an aspect of cancer treatment some of us would rather put out of our heads….all cancer patients should take careful notes on their planned treatments and ask their doctors about the long-term consequences of therapy.
New Article on Mammography Spawns False Hope That Breast Cancer is Not a Dangerous Disease
Few forms of invasive breast cancer warrant no treatment unless the patient is so old that she is likely to die first of another condition, or the patient prefers to die of the disease….“Mammograms Spot Cancers That May Not Be Dangerous,” said WebMD, yesterday. This is feel-good news, and largely wishful.
Harsh Words, and Women’s Health at Risk
In this new climate of shame, it’s easy to imagine a girl might feel really, really bad about herself simply for being sexually active.
Komen Update – Future Plans?
As many ML readers are aware, late this morning, the Susan G. Komen Foundation announced it will not cut current grants or funding to Planned Parenthood. This reversal comes as welcome news to those who support the agency and its work. The New York City branch issued this statement. Still, many breast cancer advocates, activists and […]
A Note on the Komen Fiasco
When I first heard the Susan G. Komen Foundation is nixing its financial support of Planned Parenthood, I thought it might be a mistake. Maybe a rogue affiliate or anti-choice officer had acted independently of the group’s core and mission, and the press got the early story wrong. I waited for Nancy G. Brinker, Komen’s […]
The Iron Lady, a Film About an Aging Woman
Over the weekend I saw the Iron Lady, a movie about Margaret Thatcher, the former Prime Minister of England. I expected a top-notch, accented and nuanced performance by Meryl Streep, and got that. The film surprised me in several respects. It’s really about aging, and how a fiercely independent woman withers. The camera takes you within her […]
The BC Sisterhood Takes on Sex After Cancer and What Oncologists Don’t Say
A hit in the women’s breast cancer Twitter league came my way from the Breast Cancer Sisterhood®. Brenda Coffee, a survivor and founder of the Survivorship Media Network, offers a serious post on What Your Oncologist Doesn’t Tell You About Sex. There’s a music video, Don’t Touch Me that’s annoying but depressingly right on how […]
Cervical Cancer Screening Update: on Pap Smears, Liquid-based Cytology and HPV
The latest issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine contains 2 noteworthy papers on cervical cancer screening. The first, a systematic review of studies commissioned by the USPSTF, looked at 3 methods for evaluating abnormalities in women over 30 years: 1. Conventional cytology (as in a Pap smear; the cervix is scraped and cells splayed […]
On Alcohol and Breast Cancer, Guilt, Correlations, Fun, Moderation, Doctors’ Habits, Advice and Herbal Tea
Few BC news items irk some women I know more than those linking alcohol consumption to the Disease. Joy-draining results like those reported this week serve up a double-whammy of guilt: first – that you might have developed cancer because you drank a bit, or a lot, or however much defines more than you should have imbibed; and second – now that […]
Arizona Cheerleaders Cause Community Stir With Breast Cancer Awareness Shirts
This story, shared today by Debbie Woodbury, warrants ML Annals of Pink inclusion: The Arizona Republic reports on a divided community in Gilbert, AZ. At issue is the high school cheerleading team’s plan to wear pink tee shirts with the slogan: “Feel for lumps – save your bumps” on the back. The group’s intention was […]
Glad to Spot a Pink Ribbon
This morning I walked into a Starbucks and noted a woman wearing a little pink ribbon on the lapel of her suit. She appeared to be in a meeting, speaking seriously with a small group of people dressed for business. How great is that, I thought, that she wears the pink ribbon unabashedly, in this […]
NEJM Publishes New Review on Breast Cancer Screening
With little fanfare, the NEJM published a feature on breast cancer screening in its Sept 15 issue. The article, like other “vignettes” in the Journal, opens with a clinical scenario. This time, it’s a 42 year old woman who is considering first-time mammography. The author, Dr. Ellen Warner, an oncologist at the University of Toronto, takes […]
1 in 70 Women Develops Breast Cancer Before Reaching 50 Years
A post in yesterday’s Well column, about coverage of breast cancer by the media, focused on the first-person narrative of NBC’s Andrea Mitchell. Journalist Tara Parker-Pope writes: Her announcement has generated much discussion in the blogosphere, including an analysis by Gary Schwitzer, publisher of HealthNewsReview.org, who writes that Ms. Mitchell made some missteps in discussing her […]
Should You Tell Your Employer When a Loved One Is Ill?
An article caught my attention in the September AARP Bulletin: The Caregiver’s Dilemma considers the 61.6 million people in the U.S. who care for older relatives or friends. People with jobs are, understandably, unsure if they should let their boss or supervisor know they’re caring for someone who’s sick. This indirect cost of illness and […]
Medical Aspects of ‘The Help’: The Plight of a Woman with Recurrent Miscarriages
Last weekend I saw The Help, a movie on race relations in Jackson, Mississippi 50 years ago with lingering implications for people who hire “help” to take care of their children and tend to their personal business anywhere in the world, including now. It’s a heavy-handed, simple-message and nonetheless very enjoyable film, with fine acting […]
Mammography Update!
This week I’ve come across a few articles and varied blog posts on screening mammography. The impetus for rehashing the topic is a new set of guidelines issued by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. That group of women’s health providers now advises that most women get annual mammograms starting at age 40. Why […]
Taking Care of Yourself When Someone You Love is Ill
This week a close relative was hospitalized and turns out to have a serious condition. He’s not a blog-lover, so I’ll keep this abstract: When a loved one gets sick, you have to take care of yourself. It’s hard to do your work, and to be there 24/7 for the rest of your family, and […]
What’s Next on the Big C? (Hopefully a Second Opinion)
(Hopefully a second opinion) When I last wrote on The Big C, a Showtime series in which the actress Laura Linney portrays a woman in her forties with advanced melanoma, I considered some of the options she might choose when the series resumes next Monday night. At the end of Season 1, she elected to […]
Considering Aromasin for Healthy Women, and the New Breast Cancer Prevention Study
I’m minding the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology from a distance this year. So far, the big breast cancer story syncs with a NEJM paper published yesterday on-line, on the use of exemestane (brand name: Aromasin, manufactured by Pfizer) to prevent invasive breast cancer. These patent-protected pills block the body’s normal […]